OBS Newsletter – November 2017

November is transition planning time for the OBS Executive Board. They are currently preparing for the Annual General Meeting to be held in late January 2018. We invite you to take some of your precious time to consider the following message from Jane Brown, OBS President.

WHY YOU MIGHT WISH TO GET MORE INVOLVED IN THE OBS:

Jane Brown & Tanzanian friends

Reason #1 – We really need your help. The OBS is powered by volunteers but we are a small group and can’t, at the present time, manage all of the roles that are vital to the organization

Reason #2 – It is a great way to become more connected with the Monks and Nuns who are our teachers.

Reason #3 – It is helpful for one’s practice to work with others who are on the same path; having the support of spiritual friends (kalyanamitta) strengthens our commitment to our practice (and it’s usually enjoyable too!)

Reason #4 – Being of service especially in facilitating the sharing of the Dhamma feels worthwhile and good

Reason #5 – Your help will be very much appreciated!

Some of the roles in particular that we need help with are:

1. Board member – attends meetings (about 6/year) where we make decisions about upcoming events and retreats. Board members may decide, in time, to take on a specific role

2. Secretary of OBS Executive – attends meetings and takes minutes, sends them out for review and finalizes the minutes; may also help with other correspondence and organizing the AGM

3. Retreat Coordinator – works with others to manage the retreat registration process and works with Retreat Registrars and Retreat Managers (does not have to be on the Executive Board )

4. Coordinator – Dana Offering program – Encourage lay community to bring food dana to OBS events and manage the donated food (bringing it to the driver’s car etc). This person might also wish to facilitate having members of the lay community deliver food and meal dana to Tisarana and Sati Saraniya.

5. Newsletter team member – meets once a month for two hours to discuss current items and themes / interview ideas. We divide up tasks who can do what when idea.

6. Kitchen helper at DoMs. – Be a helper or back up for the Kitchen Manager at DoM’s; arrive early to help set up and help with the warming up and setting out of food etc

7. Volunteer Drivers – to drive the monastics into Ottawa from Perth for our teaching events and back home again afterwards.

If you have questions or would like more info about any of these roles and/or any other way you might like to get involved, please speak to any Executive member at our events or email Jane – obspresident@ottawabuddhistsociety.com

This is a wide path and best shared with many

In the Pali Canon’s Upaddha Sutta (SN 45.2), there is a conversation between the Buddha and his disciple Ananda in which Ananda enthusiastically declares, ‘This is half of the holy life, lord: admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie.’ The Buddha replies:

‘Don’t say that, Ananda. Don’t say that. Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life. When a monk has admirable people as friends, companions, & comrades, he can be expected to develop & pursue the noble eight fold path.’

November 3 – Full Moon and the Friday Evening Meeting with Ven Khemako. 7:30 pm at Quaker House, 91A Fourth Ave, Ottawa click here for map. All dana offerings for the monks at Tisarana will be gratefully accepted on Friday evening.

Venerable Khemako was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1959 into a large Catholic family and received his primary education from priests and nuns at the local Church-run school. His long-standing interest in the core questions of philosophy and religion led him to begin lay Buddhist practice in 1997. As his practice and faith in the Dhamma increased, his interest and involvement in lay life waned. Ven. Khemako trained for two years as an Anāgārika and Sāmaṇera, ordaining as a Bhikkhu on June 2, 2012 with Ajahn Pasanno as preceptor. In June of 2014 Ven. Khemako moved to Tisarana. During the winter of 2016 – 2017, Venerable Khemako stayed at Arrow River Hermitage.

November 5 – Daylight Savings Time changes – clocks FALL back one hour

November 11 – Waning half moon

November 12 – OBS FALL SOCIAL Sunday November 12th, 2-5 pm
All Are Welcome! We will be gathering at Rose and Jack’s home at 779 Weston Drive (Elmvale Acres)
Please bring a sweet or savory snack to share if you can, as well as your own mug. Newcomers welcome.
We hope to see many of you there!

November 17 – Friday Evening Meeting with LP Viradhammo 7:30 pm at Quaker House, 91A Fourth Ave, Ottawa (click here (https://goo.gl/maps/23ZIC) for map). A friendly reminder all dana offerings for the sangha at Tisarana will be gratefully accepted on Friday evening ad Saturday at the Day of Mindfulness.

Ajahn Viradhammo was born in Germany, 1947, to Latvian refugee parents. They moved to Toronto when he was four years old. Around 1969, while living in India, he encountered Buddhism, meeting the late Samanera Bodhesako, who introduced him to the teachings of the Buddha. He eventually travelled to Thailand to become a novice at Wat Mahathat in 1973 and took bhikkhu ordination the following year at Wat Pah Pong with Ven. Ajahn Chah. He was one of the first residents at Wat Pah Nanachat, the international monastery in NE Thailand.

Having spent four years in Thailand, he went back to Canada to visit his family in 1977. Instead of returning to Thailand, he was asked by Ajahn Chah to join Ajahn Sumedho at the Hampstead Vihara in London. Later, he was involved in the establishment of both the Chithurst and Harnham monasteries in the UK. In 1985, invited by the Wellington Theravada Buddhist Association, he moved to New Zealand, accompanied by Venerable Thanavaro, where he lived for 10 years, setting up Bodhinyanarama monastery.

In 1995 he came to the UK to assist Ajahn Sumedho at Amaravati and stayed for four years before returning to New Zealand, where he lived until 2002.

Ajahn Virahadhammo is the senior abbot of Tisarana monastery, located in Perth, Ontario, which he founded in 2005. He has been the principal spiritual guide for the Ottawa Buddhist Society for the past 10 years. http://tisarana.ca (https://tisarana.ca/)

November 18 – Day of Mindfulness with LP Viradhammo 8:30 am – 3:30 pm at Tu-An Pagoda , 3591 Albion Road ~ Map (https://goo.gl/maps/EZR2Ybhi9cN2)
These days of silent meditation and dhamma reflections are conducted by a visiting monk or nun.The Days of Mindfulness run from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and include periods of sitting meditation, walking meditation, dhamma readings, listening to dhamma talks (from either an invited monastic/nun or else a taped talk chosen by a senior OBS member), occasional discussions.

You are invited to contribute to and share in the pot-luck vegetarian lunch, served between 11:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. Any contribution would be warmly welcomed.

Abhayagari Monastery was spared in the recent forest fires in Northern California, see here

BUDDHIST TEACHERS TAKE A STAND IN MYANMAR
Read the statement signed by many well-known Western Dharma teachers in response to the crisis in Myanmar, published in Lion’s Roar. It is a call to action and a call for compassion. To DONATE to UNHCR CANADA click here ) and to read Lion’s Roar statement click here

“Now does not take place in time; all apparent time takes place Now.” Rupert Spira